Department of Paediatrics

Witbank Hospital Department of Paediatrics was initiated in 1997 as part of a formal joint partnership between the University of Pretoria and the Mpumalanga Provincial Department of Health with the aim of providing special referral services for the province and regional based training sites for pre- and postgraduate medical students for the University of Pretoria. 

The Department of Paediatrics of the University of Pretoria at the Witbank Hospital Satellite Campus is one of the three teaching hospitals for under- and postgraduate medical professional training of the School of Medicine of the University of Pretoria.  The Paediatric Department at Witbank Hospital has a 10 bed Neonatal Intensive Care (5 ventilators) / High Care Unit (5 nCPAP units), with an additional 2-3 beds for paediatric ICU care as part of a separate General ICU. 

The Paediatric wards consist of a 14 bed Short stay/High Care Unit (for acute care and monitoring of critical patients), a 26 bed inpatient unit and 20 bedded low birth weight neonatal unit (including 6 KMC beds). Paediatric outpatient clinics consist of daily general paediatric clinics, and specialist referral clinics for chronic diseases such as HIV, diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, high risk neonatal care and genetics clinics. The Paediatric Department has had 1 full-time paediatric consultant and 3 part-time consultants, providing twice-daily consultant ward rounds and 24-hour on-call supervision and support. It is an accredited training site for under- and postgraduate training for under- and postgraduate medical students in Paediatrics for the University of Pretoria. It serves as the main specialist referral and outreach support service for the entire Mpumalanga Province, which includes 25 referring provincial hospitals for an estimated population of 3.5 million people.

Dr. Edeani is acting HOD of the Department. He is assisted by 3 session paediatricians, 4 full-time medical officers, 2-3 community service doctors and two registrars from University of Pretoria rotating every 4 months. Five intern doctors are also part of the team rotating every 4 months.

Ms. Roset Abrie is providing secretarial and administrative support to consultants, medical officers, registrars, interns and students in the Paediatric Department.

Photo: Philip Snyman

Academic

• Pregraduate education: focus on IMCI and Emergency Triage of children for all medical students in the 2nd and 4th year of study, and again for final year medical students rotating to Witbank Hospital.
• Postgraduate education: focus on regional paediatrics for paediatric registrars at Witbank, including audit, outreach and quality improvement.
• Field of specialisation: Regional paediatric service development and support

Student Training

• Weekly Programme

GPS Coordinates

Coordinates: S 25.8757° E 29.2286°

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